Boogie
Focus Features | Release Date: March 5, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesTeo BugbeeMar 4, 2021
It’s a competent movie, but it doesn’t quite make it to the big leagues. Read full review
58
The PlaylistWalter ChawMar 16, 2021
It’s worth a look. And as another voice added to a growing chorus of Asian-Americans who were taught to be quiet, I guess I’m glad it’s not polished, that it’s coarse and impolite. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakMar 3, 2021
Luckily the familial and personal stuff has the strength to stick in our heads when the battle on the court fades because the work the actors put in is effective. Read full review
50
UproxxVince ManciniMar 18, 2021
The idea of a movie about an Asian-American basketball prospect is compelling enough, but Boogie is also saddled with the baggage of seemingly everything writer/director Eddie Huang thinks is cool. Some of it fits, some of it doesn’t, and lots of times his attempts at a fresh angle come off achingly corny. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 12, 2021
There is a maddeningly unconsidered quality to Boogie’s emotions about Asian American masculinity, and never more so than in the film’s fraught relationship with Blackness. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloMar 5, 2021
Not all the pieces of Boogie fit neatly together, but it’s a film about a family that doesn’t fit inside the box of a standard inspirational immigrant story. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 4, 2021
Yes, it’s a coming-of-age story: If Boogie were fully evolved, woke and enlightened, there would be no "Boogie." But the film is just rough and unformed enough to suggest that Huang might still have some growing up to do as a filmmaker, too. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 4, 2021
Alas, the basketball scenes and the basketball talk in this basketball movie continually bounce the wrong way, and there’s no overcoming that. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerMar 4, 2021
Huang's understatement often seems flat. There's nothing visually distinctive about his depiction of diverse working class NYC, and major events bubble up with surprisingly little impact. With so much on the line, Boogie just sort of dribbles to nothingness. Read full review
50
VarietyNick SchagerMar 3, 2021
Boogie is most assured when focusing on specific Chinese American routines, rituals and mindsets, yet it falters when crafting its larger portrait of Boogie’s predicament. Huang’s script routinely indulges in leaden exposition to get its message, as well as character details and dynamics, across. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleChris VognarMar 3, 2021
Boogie has some hops. But its all-around game could use a little work. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayMar 3, 2021
In basketball terms, it’s not just that Boogie’s a star player who never passes the ball. He also rarely shoots. He mostly just stands in one place, listlessly dribbling. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryMar 4, 2021
A warmed-over collection of cinematic cliches that misses its shot what could have been a fertile premise, in don't-quit-your-day-job fashion. Read full review
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